1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument having the style of a woodwind musical instrument and being played in the manner similar to that of playing a woodwind musical instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among electronic musical instruments, the most popular ones are keyboard type electronic musical instruments, and recently developed and put into practical use are woodwind-styled electronic musical instruments which exhibit shapes similar to acoustic woodwind musical instruments and are played in a similar manner. An example of such conventional woodwind-styled electronic musical instruments is shown schematically in FIGS. 13(a) and 13(b), in which FIG. 13(a) is a front view of the instrument from its front side and FIG. 13(b) is a rear view of the instrument from its back side.
The woodwind-styled electronic musical instrument as shown comprises an instrument body 111, a mouthpiece 112 and a plurality of key switches 113 arranged on the front side of the instrument body 111 for designating notes for playing music. These key switches 113 are divided into two groups 113a and 113b in which the group 113a is for manipulation by the left hand fingers and located nearer to the mouthpiece 112 and the group 113b is for manipulation by the right hand fingers and is located farther from the mouthpiece 112, both groups of key switches being consecutively arranged along the front surface of the instrument body 111 of a longitudinal rod shape. Among the key switches 113, the home position key switches are provided with circular pad elements for a quick identification thereof, while the other key switches are provided with somewhat elongated cylindrical front surfaces for the reach of the fingers.
Further on the back surface of the instrument body 111, there are provided a plurality of octave key switches 114 arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction thereof. Among these octave key switches 114, those numbered 114-1, 114-2 and 114-3 are octave key switches for shifting up the octave level of the tones to be produced, while those numbered 114-4 and 114-5 are octave key switches for shifting down the octave level of the tones to be produced. Thus, the concurrent manipulation of the note designating key switches 113 and the octave key switch 114 determines the note name and the octave level of the tone to be produced, the fingering pattern of the note designating key switches determining the note name within an octave and the selection of the octave key switch determining the octave level for that note name. For example, when none of the octave key switches 114 are manipulated, the note name determined by the note key switches will be given a basic (middle) octave level, and a tone of that note name are produced in the middle octave range. When the octave key switch 114-1 is manipulated, the note name is given a octave level which is one octave higher than the basic octave level, i.e. the octave of the produced tone is shifted up by one (+1). Likewise, when the octave key switch 114-2 is manipulated, the octave of the produced tone is shifted up by two (+2). Further, when the octave key switch 114-3 is manipulated, the octave of the produced tone is shifted up by three (+3). On the other hand, when the octave key switch 114-4 is manipulated, the octave of the produced tone is shifted down by one (-1). Still further, when the octave key switch 114-5 is manipulated, the octave of the produced tone is shifted down by two (-2).
In this way, the combined manipulation of any one of the octave witches 114 which designates an octave range and of the plurality of note key switches 113 which designate a note name within an octave will permit designation of any notes within the available span of the musical scale by the instrument to realize a musical performance using musical tones over a plurality of octaves. The octave key switches 114 are positioned in the upper area on the back surface of the instrument body 111 to be manipulated by the left thumb.
The timing for the tone production is controlled by the player's breath pressure applied at the mouthpiece 112. The mouthpiece, therefore, includes therein a wind sensor (pressure sensor) which detects the pressure of the player's breath. The instrument is usually further provided with a program change switch for selecting a tone color to be used, a mechanism for setting the standard octave for the instrument, etc.,
With the woodwind-styled electronic musical instrument as explained above referring to FIGS. 13(a) and 13(b), a player performs a musical tune by manipulating the octave key switches 114 and the note designating key switches 113 in accordance with the musical notation on a score. The manipulation of the keys for a musical performance is such that the fingers (except thumbs) of the both hands actuate the note key switches 113a provided on the front surface of the instrument body while the left thumb actuates the octave key switches 114 provided on the back surface of the instrument. The octave key switches 114, however, are provided in spaced-apart locations along the longitudinal axis on the back surface of the instrument body 111 so that the player has to slide the left thumb in the longitudinal direction (upward and downward in the performing posture) for selecting the intended octave key switch 114. The sliding movement of the left thumb tends to cause a like movement of other fingers of the left hand as well, which would deviate the positions of the finger tips thereby jeopardizing the precise actuation of the note designating keys for the performance.
For example, if the designation of six octaves be available, five more octaves have to be arbitrarily selected in addition to a basic octave, and consequently there should be provided five octave key switches as shown in FIG. 13 (b). If the instrument should cover further expanded octaves, more octave key switches 114 would further be necessary and further shifting of the left thumb position would be required.